Though she was a High School graduate, Kelly had an uphill climb as a seventeen year old single mother of a baby boy with no job or home to call her own. “…I was temporarily sleeping in a teen parent foster home and then in my own empty apartment, sleeping on the floor, using my son’s blankets as a pillow.” (osu.edu)

Things have certainly changed for her for the better, but not because of pure luck. She’s worked hard and put herself through college and pre-med courses at Portland State University and recently had the pleasure of crossing the stage as a proud graduate with a doctorate of medicine from Oregon Health & Science University.

That’s quite an admirable accomplishment as it is, especially when starting out with so much responsibility and challenges at a young age.